Gavin Pretor-Pinney: The Cloud Appreciation Society started as a joke

Gavin Pretor-Pinney, 43, is founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society, and talks to Metro about writing and his best-seller, The Cloudspotter’s Guide.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Picture: Writer Pictures WORLD RIGHTS)

How many members has The Cloud Appreciation Society got?

29,534. It keeps growing. It’s an idea that has spread virally. People remember enjoying clouds when they were young – looking up and seeing shapes in them – and even though people moan about clouds, there is still an affection there. The society reminds people they’re not something to moan about.

Is there a typical member?

No. People have bought memberships for babies and our oldest member is 96. It ranges from cloud physicists to photographers who appreciate clouds for their aesthetic beauty. There isn’t a typical member, although they may see themselves as people who find beauty in the every day.

What are the main objectives and activities?

Reminding people you don’t need to cross the world to find the exotic. There are stunning parts of nature around us if we just change our perspective slightly. You’d be happier if you didn’t wish you were somewhere else in the world, somewhere without a cloud in the sky – encouraged by the travel industry. If you appreciate the beauty in that you’d be happier.

Why did you establish the society?

I was doing a talk at a literary festival in Cornwall in 2004. I was asked to do a talk about clouds but was concerned no one would come along. I thought giving the talk an unusual name would make people come, so I called it the Inaugural Lecture Of The Cloud Appreciation Society. People actually asked to join afterwards. It started as a joke but some of the best ideas start when you’re in a light-hearted frame of mind.

What are your favourite bits of cloud trivia?

Ten water droplets in a medium-sized cumulus cloud, the ones that look like cotton wool on a sunny day, weigh as much as 80 elephants. The huge cumulonimbus clouds, storm clouds, can be twice the height of Mount Everest.

You went into the world of wave-watching with your last book. Did it meet with the same success?

A different sort of success. My first cloud book did very well, despite being turned down by 28 publishers. The waves book did OK. It got a Royal Society prize for science books, which is very prestigious and made me feel better. It wasn’t just about ocean waves but brainwaves, waves of emotion – it was less focused.

What have clouds got that waves haven’t?

Clouds are constantly present and you don’t have to go anywhere special to see one. You can do it from the window of your flat in the middle of a city. Everyone has easy access to clouds, only some people have regular access to ocean waves and we don’t notice the fact that light or sound is made up of waves until someone tells us.

What kept you motivated after 28 rejections?

I could see the society was spreading of its own accord, which made me feel it was an accessible subject. When I was working on the proposal, I was talking to the man at the corner shop, who laughed when I told him I was writing a book about clouds. Every time I went in there afterwards, he’d ask me about clouds. I realised then everyone knows what you’re talking about with clouds – it seemed it had a strong potential to appeal to people.

Have you thought of diversifying your writing?

I couldn’t do that thing with fiction where you hear about authors having a relationship with their characters and wondering what’s going to happen next – that’s not how my brain works. I’m interested in writing about everyday stuff that’s so common we don’t notice it any more. The fact a wave on the surface of an ocean is energy travelling out from sea is quite unfamiliar when you think about it. There’s plenty of subject matter.

Isn’t this new book just a bunch of pictures?

Just a bunch of pictures? You wouldn’t have got that collection without something such as The Cloud Appreciation Society with its international network of people aware of the sky who also carry little digital cameras around with them. Technology has enabled it and so has the society. If you gave a photographer the brief to take pictures of clouds that look like things, he’d be doing it for decades but we’ve done it with ease. All those people might have just seen one cloud and sent it in – it’s not just a bunch of pictures. I’ve also written a section explaining the basics of how clouds form as simply as I could. I’m proud of that. It’s not easy to explain things like that in a simple way. It’s not about meteorology, though. It’s about the pointless activity of seeing shapes in clouds. That’s the important thing. We don’t have enough excuses these days to do nothing. We’re all supposed to be busy all day. Activities such as lying back and seeing shapes in clouds is a momentary meditation, which is an important antidote to the pressure of modern society. It’s good for your health and good for your soul.